System and method for determining website popularity by location

ABSTRACT

Internet websites that are popular for users in a specific location are determined and displayed to a user of an electronic device. The popularity information may be of benefit to users in the location or to users of inherently portable devices, such as a mobile telephone or a laptop computer, that travel to the location. In one embodiment, position data relating to devices used to access websites is used to establish statistics regarding the most visited websites based on location. For instance, positioning data may be added to “webpage look-up/URL requests” that are made by the devices. This data may be transmitted to a server for deriving of the statistics.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The technology of the present disclosure relates generally to Internetsearching and, more particularly, to a system and method for determiningwhich websites are popular among Internet users in a particularlocation.

BACKGROUND

Access to the Internet is increasingly more widespread. For example,Internet users may access Internet content (e.g., “websites,” which aretypically arranged as a group of “webpages”) using a variety of devices.Exemplary devices that are capable of accessing Internet content includedesktop and laptop computers, and mobile telephones.

Also, the content available through the Internet is increasingly morediverse. Users may identify popular Internet content by using “toplists.” Top lists attempt to identify the most visited websites. Toplists may be established for websites in a category (e.g., sports,social networking, clothes shopping, etc.). Top lists may be generatedto identify the most visited sites on a world-wide basis or on acountry-by-country basis.

Top lists are typically compiled by Internet service providers (ISPs) orby entities that host websites used by a variety of users, such as“portal” websites or search engine websites. These compilations may bederived from monitoring the activity of the users of the ISPs orwebsites.

SUMMARY

While conventional top lists have value, there are contexts in which auser may desire more specific information. To enhance the value of toplists, the present disclosure describes systems and methods forgenerating more context-specific top lists. In particular, disclosed aretechniques for identifying Internet websites that are popular for usersin a specific location, such as a city, neighborhood in a city, anairport, or any other location of interest. As used in this document, alocation is an identifiable geographical point or area that is part of alarger geographical area for which Internet usage is monitored. Thepopularity information may be of benefit to users in the location or tousers of inherently portable devices, such as a mobile telephone or alaptop computer, that travel to the location. In one embodiment,position data relating to devices used to access websites is used toestablish statistics regarding the most visited websites based onlocation. For instance, positioning data may be added to “webpagelook-up/URL requests” that are made by the devices. This data may betransmitted to a server for deriving of the statistics.

According to one aspect of the disclosure, a method of determiningpopularity of Internet content by location includes collecting andstoring Internet usage data from plural electronic devices across ageographic area, the Internet usage data comprising data objects, eachdata object generated when a user of one of the electronic devices usesa browser to visit a website and each data object including anidentification of the visited website and a position of the electronicdevice from which a request for the visited website was made; and for alocation within the geographic area and for a requesting electronicdevice, analyzing the Internet usage data to construct a list of themost visited websites by electronic devices for which the positions inthe data objects are in the location, and transmitting the list to therequesting electronic device.

According to one embodiment of the method, the electronic devices fromwhich the Internet usage data is collected are portable electronicdevices.

According to one embodiment of the method, the portable electronicdevices are mobile telephones.

According to one embodiment of the method, the location is specified bythe requesting electronic device.

According to one embodiment of the method, the location corresponds to acurrent physical position of the electronic device.

According to one embodiment of the method, the list is ordered bypopularity rank.

According to one embodiment of the method, the list is filtered toremove websites that have universal popularity across the geographicarea.

According to one embodiment of the method, the list is filtered by atime parameter.

According to one embodiment of the method, the time parameter is used toidentify current website usage for the location.

According to one embodiment of the method, the time parameter is used toidentify website popularity over a specified period of time.

According to one embodiment, the method further includes revising thelist based on a redefinition of the location by the requestingelectronic device, the redefinition being one of an enlargement of asize of the location or a reduction of the size of the location.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a method of determiningpopularity of Internet content by location using an electronic deviceincludes requesting a list of popular websites by a location within ageographic area from a server; receiving a list of popular websites fromthe server; and displaying a map of the location together with thereceived list of popular websites;

According to one embodiment of the method, the websites in the displayedlist are active links to the corresponding websites.

According to one embodiment of the method, the location is specified bythe requesting electronic device.

According to one embodiment of the method, the location corresponds to acurrent physical position of the electronic device.

According to one embodiment of the method, the list is filtered toremove websites that have universal popularity across the geographicarea.

According to one embodiment of the method, the list is filtered by atime parameter.

According to one embodiment of the method, the time parameter is used toidentify current website usage for the location.

According to one embodiment of the method, the time parameter is used toidentify website popularity over a specified period of time.

According to one embodiment, the method further includes revising thelist based on a redefinition of the location by the requestingelectronic device, the redefinition being one of an enlargement of asize of the location or a reduction of the size of the location.

These and further features will be apparent with reference to thefollowing description and attached drawings. In the description anddrawings, particular embodiments of the invention have been disclosed indetail as being indicative of some of the ways in which the principlesof the invention may be employed, but it is understood that theinvention is not limited correspondingly in scope. Rather, the inventionincludes all changes, modifications and equivalents coming within thescope of the claims appended hereto.

Features that are described and/or illustrated with respect to oneembodiment may be used in the same way or in a similar way in one ormore other embodiments and/or in combination with or instead of thefeatures of the other embodiments.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communications system in whichelectronic devices may operate and access the Internet;

FIG. 2 is a schematic block diagram of a mobile telephone as anexemplary electronic device that operates in the communications systemof FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flow chart representing an exemplary method of collectingdata with an electronic device for use in determining website popularityby location;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart representing an exemplary method of determiningwebsite popularity by location;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart representing an exemplary method of userinteraction with information of website popularity by location;

FIG. 6 is a representation of a graphical user interface to displaywebsite popularity by location; and

FIG. 7 is another representation of a graphical user interface todisplay website popularity by location.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments will now be described with reference to the drawings,wherein like reference numerals are used to refer to like elementsthroughout. It will be understood that the figures are not necessarilyto scale.

In the present document, embodiments are described primarily in thecontext of a portable radio communications device, such as theillustrated mobile telephone. It will be appreciated, however, that theexemplary context of a mobile telephone is not the only operationalenvironment in which aspects of the disclosed systems and methods may beused. Therefore, the techniques described in this document may beapplied to any type of appropriate electronic device, examples of whichinclude a mobile telephone, a media player, a gaming device, a computer,a pager, a communicator, an electronic organizer, a personal digitalassistant (PDA), a smartphone, a portable communication apparatus, etc.

Referring initially to FIGS. 1 and 2, an electronic device 10 is shown.The electronic device 10 includes a website popularity function 12 thatis configured to identify popular websites by location to a user.Additional details and operation of the website popularity function 12will be described in greater detail below. The website popularityfunction 12 may be embodied as executable code that is resident in andexecuted by the electronic device 10. In one embodiment, the websitepopularity function 12 may be one or more programs that are stored on acomputer or machine readable medium. The website popularity function 12may be a stand-alone software application or form a part of a softwareapplication that carries out additional tasks related to the electronicdevice 10.

The electronic device 10 may operatively communicate with a server 14that analyzes Internet usage data from the electronic device 10 and fromother electronic devices 16 that are operated by a variety of users. Inone embodiment, the server 14 includes an Internet usage monitoringfunction 18 to process Internet usage data and determine websitepopularity by location. Additional details and operation of the Internetusage monitoring function 18 will be described in greater detail below.The Internet usage monitoring function 18 may be embodied as executablecode that is resident in and executed by the server 14. In oneembodiment, the Internet usage monitoring function 18 may be one or moreprograms that are stored on a computer or machine readable medium. TheInternet usage monitoring function 18 may be a stand-alone softwareapplication or form a part of a software application that carries outadditional tasks related to the server 14.

Through the following description, exemplary techniques for determiningwebpage popularity by location are described. It will be appreciatedthat through the description of the exemplary techniques, a descriptionof steps that may be carried out in part by executing software isdescribed. The described steps are the foundation from which aprogrammer of ordinary skill in the art may write code to implement thedescribed functionality. As such, a computer program listing is omittedfor the sake of brevity. However, the described steps may be considereda method that the corresponding device is configured to carry out. Also,while the website popularity function 12 and the Internet usagemonitoring function 18 are implemented in software in accordance with anembodiment, such functionality could also be carried out via dedicatedhardware or firmware, or some combination of hardware, firmware and/orsoftware.

The electronic device 10 may include a display 20. The display 20displays information to a user such as operating state, time, telephonenumbers, contact information, various menus, etc., that enable the userto utilize the various features of the electronic device 10. The display20 also may be used to visually display content received by theelectronic device 10 and/or retrieved from a memory 22 of the electronicdevice 10. The display 20 may be used to present images, video and othergraphics to the user, such as photographs, mobile television content,Internet pages, and video associated with games.

A keypad 24 provides for a variety of user input operations. Forexample, the keypad 24 may include alphanumeric keys for allowing entryof alphanumeric information (e.g., telephone numbers, phone lists,contact information, notes, text, etc.), special function keys (e.g., acall send and answer key, multimedia playback control keys, a camerashutter button, etc.), navigation and select keys or a pointing device,and so forth. Keys or key-like functionality also may be embodied as atouch screen associated with the display 20. Also, the display 20 andkeypad 24 may be used in conjunction with one another to implement softkey functionality.

The electronic device 10 includes communications circuitry that enablesthe electronic device 10 to establish a communications with anotherdevice. Communications may include calls, data transfers, and the like.Calls may take any suitable form such as, but not limited to, voicecalls and video calls. The calls may be carried out over a cellularcircuit-switched network or may be in the form of a voice over InternetProtocol (VoIP) call that is established over a packet-switchedcapability of a cellular network or over an alternative packet-switchednetwork (e.g., a network compatible with IEEE 802.11, which is commonlyreferred to as WiFi, or a network compatible with IEEE 802.16, which iscommonly referred to as WiMAX), for example. Data transfers may include,but are not limited to, receiving streaming content (e.g., streamingaudio, streaming video, etc.), receiving data feeds (e.g., pushed data,podcasts, really simple syndication (RSS) data feeds data feeds),downloading and/or uploading data (e.g., image files, video files, audiofiles, ring tones, Internet content, etc.), receiving or sendingmessages (e.g., text messages, instant messages, electronic mailmessages, multimedia messages), and so forth. This data may be processedby the electronic device 10, including storing the data in the memory22, executing applications to allow user interaction with the data,displaying video and/or image content associated with the data,outputting audio sounds associated with the data, and so forth.

In the exemplary embodiment, the communications circuitry may include anantenna 26 coupled to a radio circuit 28. The radio circuit 28 includesa radio frequency transmitter and receiver for transmitting andreceiving signals via the antenna 26.

The radio circuit 28 may be configured to operate in a mobilecommunications system 30 (FIG. 1). Radio circuit 28 types forinteraction with a mobile radio network and/or broadcasting networkinclude, but are not limited to, global system for mobile communications(GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), wideband CDMA (WCDMA),general packet radio service (GPRS), WiFi, WiMAX, digital videobroadcasting-handheld (DVB-H), integrated services digital broadcasting(ISDB), high speed packet access (HSPA), etc., as well as advancedversions of these standards or any other appropriate standard. It willbe appreciated that the electronic device 10 may be capable ofcommunicating using more than one standard. Therefore, the antenna 26and the radio circuit 28 may represent one or more than one radiotransceiver.

The system 30 may include a communications network 32 having the server14 (or servers) for managing calls placed by and destined to theelectronic device 10, transmitting data to and receiving data from theelectronic device 10 and carrying out any other support functions. Theserver 14 communicates with the electronic device 10 via a transmissionmedium. The transmission medium may be any appropriate device orassembly, including, for example, a communications base station (e.g., acellular service tower, or “cell” tower), a wireless access point, asatellite, etc. The network 32 may support the communications activityof multiple electronic devices 10, 16 and other types of end userdevices. As will be appreciated, the server 14 may be configured as atypical computer system used to carry out server functions and mayinclude a processor configured to execute software containing logicalinstructions that embody the functions of the server 14 and a memory tostore such software and any related databases. In alternativearrangements, the electronic device 10 may wirelessly communicatedirectly with another electronic device 10 (e.g., another mobiletelephone or a computer) and without an intervening network. Asindicated, the server 14 may store and execute the Internet usagemonitoring function 18. In another embodiment, communications activityof the electronic devices 10, 16 may be managed by a server that isdifferent from the server 14 that executes the Internet usage monitoringfunction 18.

The electronic device 10 may include a primary control circuit 34 thatis configured to carry out overall control of the functions andoperations of the electronic device 10. The control circuit 34 mayinclude a processing device 36, such as a central processing unit (CPU),microcontroller or microprocessor. The processing device 36 executescode stored in a memory (not shown) within the control circuit 34 and/orin a separate memory, such as the memory 22, in order to carry outoperation of the electronic device 10. For instance, the processingdevice 36 may execute code that implements the website popularityfunction 12. The memory 22 may be, for example, one or more of a buffer,a flash memory, a hard drive, a removable media, a volatile memory, anon-volatile memory, a random access memory (RAM), or other suitabledevice. In a typical arrangement, the memory 22 may include anon-volatile memory for long term data storage and a volatile memorythat functions as system memory for the control circuit 34. The memory22 may exchange data with the control circuit 34 over a data bus.Accompanying control lines and an address bus between the memory 22 andthe control circuit 34 also may be present.

The electronic device 10 further includes a sound signal processingcircuit 38 for processing audio signals transmitted by and received fromthe radio circuit 28. Coupled to the sound processing circuit 38 are aspeaker 40 and a microphone 42 that enable a user to listen and speakvia the electronic device 10. The radio circuit 28 and sound processingcircuit 38 are each coupled to the control circuit 34 so as to carry outoverall operation. Audio data may be passed from the control circuit 34to the sound signal processing circuit 38 for playback to the user. Theaudio data may include, for example, audio data from an audio filestored by the memory 22 and retrieved by the control circuit 34, orreceived audio data such as in the form of voice communications orstreaming audio data from a mobile radio service. The sound processingcircuit 38 may include any appropriate buffers, decoders, amplifiers andso forth.

The display 20 may be coupled to the control circuit 34 by a videoprocessing circuit 44 that converts video data to a video signal used todrive the display 20. The video processing circuit 44 may include anyappropriate buffers, decoders, video data processors and so forth. Thevideo data may be generated by the control circuit 34, retrieved from avideo file that is stored in the memory 22, derived from an incomingvideo data stream that is received by the radio circuit 28 or obtainedby any other suitable method.

The electronic device 10 may further include one or more input/output(I/O) interface(s) 46. The I/O interface(s) 46 may be in the form oftypical mobile telephone I/O interfaces and may include one or moreelectrical connectors. The I/O interfaces 46 may form one or more dataports for connecting the electronic device 10 to another device (e.g., acomputer) or an accessory (e.g., a personal handsfree (PHF) device) viaa cable. Further, operating power may be received over the I/Ointerface(s) 46 and power to charge a battery of a power supply unit(PSU) 48 within the electronic device 10 may be received over the I/Ointerface(s) 46. The PSU 48 may supply power to operate the electronicdevice 10 in the absence of an external power source.

The electronic device 10 also may include various other components. Forinstance, a system clock 50 may clock components such as the controlcircuit 34 and the memory 22. A camera 52 may be present for takingdigital pictures and/or movies. Image and/or video files correspondingto the pictures and/or movies may be stored in the memory 22. A positiondata receiver 54, such as a global positioning system (GPS) receiver,Galileo satellite system receiver or the like, may be involved indetermining the position of the electronic device 10. A local wirelessinterface 56, such as an infrared transceiver and/or an RF transceiver(e.g., a Bluetooth chipset) may be used to establish communication witha nearby device, such as an accessory (e.g., a PHF device), anothermobile radio terminal, a computer or another device.

It will be appreciated that the electronic device 10 may access contentfrom the Internet 58 via the network 32 or through another interface tothe Internet 58. As will be appreciated, the electronic device 10 mayinclude an Internet browser 60 to facilitate the browsing of Internetwebpages that are hosted by various Internet servers. The Internetbrowser 60 may be, for example, a computer program stored by the memory22 and executed by the processing device 36. The website popularityfunction 12 may form part of the browser 60, may be a plug-in for thebrowser 60, or may operate in a coordinated manner with the browser 60to effectuate the functions described in this document.

With additional reference to FIG. 3, illustrated are logical operationsto implement an exemplary method of collecting data with an electronicdevice for use in determining website popularity by location. Theexemplary method may be carried out by executing an embodiment of thewebsite popularity function 12, for example. Thus, the flow chart ofFIG. 3 may be thought of as depicting steps of a method carried out byone of the electronic devices 10, 16. The same or similar operations maybe carried out by plural electronic devices 10, 16 so that the server 14may obtain sufficient data to determine website popularity based onspecified locations. Although FIG. 3 shows a specific order of executingfunctional logic blocks, the order of executing the blocks may bechanged relative to the order shown. Also, two or more blocks shown insuccession may be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence.Certain blocks also may be omitted.

In one embodiment, the data collection may be made only with portableelectronic devices, such as mobile telephones and laptop computers. Inanother embodiment, the data collection may be made only with certaintypes of portable electronic devices, such as mobile telephones. Instill another embodiment, the data collection may be made with bothportable electronic devices and relatively stationary electronicdevices, such as desktop computers.

Regardless of device type, the logical flow for collecting data for usein determining website popularity by location may begin in block 62where a user of the electronic device 10, 16 launches an Internetbrowser. Common Internet browsers that are commercially available at thetime that this document was written include Internet Explorer availablefrom Microsoft Corporation and Firefox available from the MozillaOrganization. For portable electronic devices, such as mobiletelephones, the Internet browser may be a wireless application protocol(WAP) browser or other suitable software.

Next, in block 64, an Internet website (or a specific webpage) may beidentified by user action when the user attempts to access the Internetwebsite. For instance, the user may type in or otherwise specify anaddress for a website, such as in the form of a uniform resource locator(URL) for the website. In other situations, the user may select awebsite from a browsing history, a list of favorite websites, a cache,or other technique. In other situations the website may be identified byselecting a link to a website from a list of search results. The attemptto access the Internet website results in the generation of a requestthat is transmitted to the network 32 for the return of thecorresponding Internet content. As an example, the request may be a“webpage look-up/URL request.”

In block 66, a data object containing Internet usage data relating tothe visited website specified in block 64 may be created. In oneembodiment, the request may be tagged with additional information tocreate the data object. For instance, the additional information may bedata that the Internet usage monitoring function 18 may use to determinewebsite popularity by location. For this purpose, the data may be aposition of the electronic device 10, 16 at the time that the request ismade. The position may be specified using, for example, GPS coordinatesor the identifier of a base station or network access point thatservices the electronic device 10, 16. Identifying position informationfor a portable device has become quite common. Therefore, specifictechniques for identifying the position of portable devices will not bedescribed in detail. Exemplary techniques for determining positioninclude, but are not limited to, GPS, assisted GPS (A-GPS), and mobileoriginated location request (MO-LR) in GSM and UMTS networks. If data iscollected from stationary devices, the position of the stationarydevices may be determined. The position may be determined in the samemanners as may be used for portable devices. Alternatively, the user mayspecify the position or the position may be part of a device profile.

Other data that may be included in the tagged request may include thetime at which the request is made. Still other data may include anidentification of the type of device used to place the request (e.g.,mobile telephone, laptop computer, etc.) or the type of browser (e.g.,computer browser or WAP browser).

The tagged request, or other data object, may be transmitted to theserver 14 in block 68. The tagged request may constitute Internet usagedata. As described below, Internet usage data from plural requests fromplural electronic devices 10, 16 may be used by the server 14 toidentify the most visited websites as a function of location.

A tagged request is one example of a data object that may be used tocommunicate Internet usage data to the server 14. Another exemplary dataobject may be a message addressed to the server 14 that contains one ormore of an identity of the visited website, the position of theelectronic device 10, 16 at the time of the website visit, the time ofthe website visit, the type of electronic device 10, 16, the type ofconnection to the Internet, the type of Internet browser that was used,etc.

With additional reference to FIG. 4, illustrated are logical operationsto implement an exemplary method of determining website popularity bylocation. The exemplary method may be carried out by executing anembodiment of the Internet usage monitoring function 18, for example.Thus, the flow chart of FIG. 4 may be thought of as depicting steps of amethod carried out by the server 14. It will be appreciated that theserver 14 may be part of the network domain of the communicationsnetwork 32, as illustrated. Alternatively, the server 14 may be outsidethe domain of the communications network 32, but may receive theInternet usage data from the electronic devices 10, 16. Although FIG. 4shows a specific order of executing functional logic blocks, the orderof executing the blocks may be changed relative to the order shown.Also, two or more blocks shown in succession may be executedconcurrently or with partial concurrence. Certain blocks also may beomitted.

In one embodiment, the determining of website popularity by location maybe based on Internet usage data from only portable electronic devices,such as mobile telephones and laptop computers. In another embodiment,the determining may be based on Internet usage data from certain typesof portable electronic devices, such as mobile telephones. In stillanother embodiment, the determining may be based on Internet usage datafrom both portable electronic devices and relatively stationaryelectronic devices, such as desktop computers.

The logical flow for determining website popularity by location maybegin in block 70 where Internet usage data may be collected from (e.g.,received from) plural electronic devices 10, 16. In an exemplaryembodiment, the Internet usage data may be in the form of the dataobjects as described above. Therefore, the Internet usage data includesan identification of a website (e.g., in the form of a URL or otherwebpage identification information) and a position of the devicerequesting the website at the time of request. Other information mayinclude the time of the request, type of requesting device, the type ofconnection to the Internet, the type of Internet browser that was used,etc.

Next, the Internet usage data may be processed in block 72. Theprocessing of the Internet usage data may include creating statisticsregarding Internet usage by location. In one embodiment, the requestsmay be categorized by location and then by website. A database may beused to store the categorized Internet usage data so that a list of themost popular websites may be determined for any location. Popularity maybe determined by identifying which websites were visited the most byusers of the electronic devices 10, 16 in the location.

In block 74, the server 14 may reply to a request from the electronicdevice 10 for a list of popular websites by a location. Using thecollected Internet usage information and the location specified by theelectronic device 10, the Internet usage monitoring function maydetermine which websites are the most popular among users in thelocation. The identified websites may be ordered from most popular toleast. In some embodiments, the list may be limited to a predeterminednumber of websites, such as five websites, ten websites, or twenty-fivewebsites. In some embodiments, the ordered list may further includescoring information to provide a sense of how popular the websites arerelative to one another. The scoring information may be the number oftimes that users requested the website or some other mathematicalfunction of this information. The location for which the list isgenerated may be specified by the user of the electronic device 10 ormay be automatically determined based on the current physical positionof the electronic device 10.

With additional reference to FIG. 5, illustrated are logical operationsto implement an exemplary method of providing information regardingwebsite popularity by location to a user of the electronic device 10.The exemplary method may be carried out by executing an embodiment ofthe website popularity function 12, for example. Thus, the flow chart ofFIG. 5 may be thought of as depicting steps of a method carried out bythe electronic device 10. Although FIG. 5 shows a specific order ofexecuting functional logic blocks, the order of executing the blocks maybe changed relative to the order shown. Also, two or more blocks shownin succession may be executed concurrently or with partial concurrence.Certain blocks also may be omitted.

The method may begin in block 76 where a request for a list of popularwebsites for a specified location is transmitted to the server 14. Thisrequest may be initiated by user action or by an automated feature ofthe electronic device 10. The request may be the same as the request towhich the server responds in block 74 of FIG. 4. The specified locationmay correspond to a current physical position of the electronic deviceor may be a user specified location (e.g., a location to which the usermay intend to travel or have some other interest). The location may bespecified in terms of a state or province, a postal code, a county, amunicipality, a census block, a user delineated region (e.g., as drawnon a map), a prominent characteristic of an area (e.g., a college campusor an airport), a radius from the position of the electronic device 10,or any another manner of partitioning a larger geographic area. In oneembodiment, the user of a mapping and satellite view website or a 3Dterrain viewing website may identify a location and submit a request tothe server 14 for the list of most popular websites for theuser-identified location.

In response to the request, the electronic device 10 may receive thelist of the most popular websites by on Internet usage data fromelectronic devices 10, 16 in the location. The list may be ordered bymost popular to least popular and may include a predetermined numberwebsites (e.g., the five most popular websites or the ten most popularwebsites). The list may include identifiers for the websites (e.g.,URLs) and may be in the form of links so that the user may select anentry from the list to browse to the corresponding website.

In block 78, the returned list may be displayed to the user of theelectronic device 10. In one embodiment, the list may be displayed inconjunction of a map of the location for the returned results. Withadditional reference to FIG. 6, an exemplary graphical user interface 80is shown. The interface 80 may be displayed on the display of theelectronic device 10, and may include a map 82 of the location and alist 84 of popular websites for the location. In the illustratedexample, the location, as reflected in the map 82, is of the greater NewYork City area and shows parts of the boroughs of New York (e.g.,Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn, etc.) and New Jersey. The list 84 isan ordered list of the five most popular websites visited by electronicdevices that share Internet usage data with the server 14. As will beappreciated, the list 84 may include more than or less than fivewebsites.

The user may be provided with an option to filter the list 84 to excludewebsites that have widespread popularity. For instance, in block 86, thelist may be filtered so that websites that routinely fall in the list ofpopular websites for multiple locations in the area for which Internetusage data is collected are omitted from the list displayed to the user.In one embodiment, websites that fall within a predetermined number(e.g., 10, 25 or 100) of the most popular websites for the entire areafor which Internet usage data is collected may be omitted using thefilter. As an example, the top 10, top 25 or top 100 websites for allusers from which data is collected may be excluded from the list ofpopular websites for the specified location. In this manner, popularsearch engine websites, social networking websites, Internet retailersand other websites that have universal appeal may be excluded to providean indication of locally popular websites.

In the illustrated example of FIG. 6, before such filtering the list 84may include exemplary websites for Google, YouTube, the New York Times,the National Football League (NFL) and Yahoo. Of these, four may haveuniversal popularity, including Google and Yahoo (popular informationand search engine sites), YouTube (a popular video sharing website), andthe NFL (a league of professional American-style football teams acrossthe United States). Each of these websites may have popularity beyondNew York. The New York Times, on the other hand, relates to a respectednewspaper and news organization. Although the New York Times has appealoutside New York City, many of its readers are likely located in andaround New York City. After the filtering to omit universally popularwebsites, the list may remove the four universally popular websites andinclude websites that survive the filtering. The surviving websites mayhave less local popularity that the universally popular websites, butare more indicative of local preferences in Internet usage. Followingthe representative example of New York City as shown in FIG. 6, anexemplary list 84 of websites after filtering may include New York Times(which has moved up in the ordered list to the top spot by the removalof other websites), followed by other websites that are popular for thelocation, but were less popular than the universally popular websites.For purposes of example, websites for the New York Area that may followthe New York Times might hypothetically be websites for the New YorkYankees baseball team, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the New York/NewJersey Port Authority, and a New York City city-guide website.

Other filtering may be carried out to refine the displayed results. Forexample, in block 88, the user may filter the results by time, locationand/or device type. The processing to effectuate the filtering of block86 and/or block 88 may be carried out by the electronic device 10 or bythe server 14, which has more immediate access to the database ofInternet usage data from which new results may be ascertained dependingon the requested filtering. Following filtering of the results, revisedresults may be displayed as part of the graphical user interface 80 inblock 90.

Filtering by time may include determining the most popular websites forthe location at the present time. Filtering by time also may be used todetermine the most popular websites for the location over the last hour,over last two hours, during the current day, over the last seven days,over the last month, or any other specified duration.

Filtering by device type may include returning results by excluding orincluding requests may be certain types of devices. For instance, theuser may seek the most popular websites requested by mobile devices tothe exclusion of stationary devices. In another example, the user mayseek the most popular websites by devices that interface with theInternet through a certain type of connection. One filter setting maybe, for example, to request popular websites for devices that interfacewith the Internet using a mobile access network (e.g., a cellularcarrier network) to the exclusion of devices that interface with theInternet through local area networks (LANs), digital subscriber lines(DSL), etc.

Filtering by location may include “zooming-in,” “zooming-out” or panningwith respect to the location of the returned results. For instance, ifresults are returned for a metropolitan area as is found in the exampleof FIG. 6, the user may zoom-in to identify popular websites by a morespecific location, such as lower Manhattan, Newark Airport, CentralPark, New York University, or any other portion of the originallyspecified location. As an example, FIG. 7 shows the graphical userinterface 80 where the user has zoomed-in from the map 86 of FIG. 6 onthe Wall Street area of lower Manhattan. As will be appreciated, theWall Street area has a high concentration of financial service companiesand is home to the New York Stock Exchange. The list of popular websitesmay be updated to correspond to the more refined location. In theexample of FIG. 7, the list may show a different set of websites thanwere returned for the example of FIG. 6. By way of example, popularwebsites for the Wall Street area may be websites for the MetropolitanTransportation Authority subway schedule, the New York Times, ForbesMagazine, the New York Yankees, the NASDAQ, and so forth.

Zooming out may have the effect of enlarging the specified location. Forexample, if the specified location we the Wall Street area, zooming outmay revise the location to be the New York City area of FIG. 6. Panningmay shift the location. For example, if the specified location we theWall Street area, the user may pan the location to correspond to midtownManhattan.

The user also may be able to specify a location so as to place a requestwith the server 14 to return popular websites in a location other than alocation that corresponds to the current position of the electronicdevice 10. In this manner, the user may identify websites that arepopular in locations all over the world or other geographic areamonitored by the server (e.g., cities such as Chicago, London, LundSweden, etc.).

It is contemplated that the list of popular websites by location may bean interesting and fun feature to have on an electronic device 10. Thefeature may be of particular use to travelers who are unfamiliar withlocally relevant websites that provide information regarding localtransportation services, local news, local events, local dining, and soforth. The returned results may be of interest due to the relativepopularity of the websites by others in the location, which may be anindicator of the quality and/or relevancy of the content of thewebsites. In addition, the relative popularity of a website in alocation over other websites may be useful in planning the placement ofadvertising. For instance, if a website is found to be popular in aparticular city, the owner of the website may use this data to seekadvertisers for products or services in the location. Advertisers alsomay seek locally popular websites for the targeted placement ofadvertisements.

Although certain embodiments have been shown and described, it isunderstood that equivalents and modifications falling within the scopeof the appended claims will occur to others who are skilled in the artupon the reading and understanding of this specification.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of determining popularity of Internetcontent by location, comprising the following steps, each carried out bya server: for each of plural electronic devices, receiving a data objectwhen a respective user of the electronic device uses a browser of theelectronic device to visit a website, each data object containing anidentification of the visited website and a position of thecorresponding electronic device at the time of the website visit;collecting and storing the visited website identifications andcorresponding positions in a database; receiving a request from arequesting electronic device, the request specifying a location and therequest being a request for an identification of the most popularwebsites visited by electronic devices that were in the location at thetime of the corresponding website visits; analyzing the database andconstructing a list of a predetermined number of websites that werevisited the most by the users of the electronic devices for which thepositions match the location specified in the request, wherein the listis ordered from the website that was visited the most by the users ofthe electronic devices for which positions match the location specifiedin the request to the website that was visited the least by the users ofthe electronic devices for which positions match the location specifiedin the request; and transmitting the list to an electronic device thatgenerated the request.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location inthe request corresponds to a current physical position of the electronicdevice that generated the request.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein thelocation in the request is defined by a user of the electronic devicethat generated the request.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein theelectronic devices from which the data objects are received are portableelectronic devices.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the portableelectronic devices are mobile telephones.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein the list is filtered to remove websites that have universalpopularity across a geographic area that contains the specifiedlocation.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the list is filtered by atime parameter.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the time parameter isused to identify current website usage for the specified location. 9.The method of claim 7, wherein the time parameter is used to identifywebsite popularity over a specified period of time.
 10. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising revising the list based on a redefinition ofthe specified location, the redefinition being one of an enlargement ofa size of the specified location or a reduction of the size of thespecified location.
 11. The method of claim 1, wherein the websites inthe list are active links to the corresponding websites.
 12. The methodof claim 1, wherein the list is filtered by device type.
 13. The methodof claim 12, wherein the list is filtered to exclude website visits bystationary devices.
 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the specifiedlocation is a city.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the specifiedlocation is a metropolitan area or portion thereof.
 16. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the list includes scoring information to indicaterelative popularity of the websites in the list.